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Immigration News Flashes
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Friday, March 13, 2009
New ICE program identifies criminal aliens in Fairfax County, VA
Criminal and immigration records of all detainees in Fairfax, VA, will be checked. The Fairfax County Sheriff's Office as well as other law
enforcement agencies have been added to a list of jurisdictions throughout
the U.S. that receive access to 'Secure Communities,'
a program administered by U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE). Fairfax County is the first in Virginia to participate.
Secure Communities
streamlines ICE's process in determining whether or not a person in custody with local law enforcement is
a potentially removable criminal alien. Beginning March 9, 2009, immigration records in DHS' biometric database, if any, of every individual booked in the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center (and other sites in the county) will
be checked. Formerly, as part of that booking process, arrestees'
fingerprints were taken and checked for criminal history information
against DOJ's biometric system maintained by the FBI. With implementation of Secure Communities, fingerprints of arrested individuals will now be automatically checked against both the FBI's criminal history records and biometrics-based immigration records maintained
by DHS. If
an individual's fingerprints match those of someone in DHS' biometric system, the new automated process will notify ICE as well as the agency submitting fingerprints. ICE will evaluate each case to determine the individual's immigration status and then take appropriate enforcement action. Top priority will be given to offenders posing a threat to public safety, such as aliens
with prior convictions for major drug offenses, murder, rape, robbery,
and kidnapping.
"Secure Communities is a new effort to identify
and ultimately remove dangerous criminal aliens from our communities,"
said Executive Director for ICE Secure Communities, David Venturella. "Our goal with this program is to use technology to prevent criminal aliens from being released back into the community, with little or no additional burden on our local law enforcement partners." "This is a win-win situation both for the community and
law enforcement," said Fairfax County Sheriff Stan Barry. "We
will be able to identify illegal immigrants who commit crimes in Fairfax County and get them in the process for deportation, and it does not require additional funds or manpower from us." Secure Communities enhances ongoing joint efforts by ICE and
law enforcement agencies in Virginia. Eventually, in collaboration
with DOJ and other DHS components, ICE plans to expand this capability to all state and local law enforcement agencies throughout the U.S. Approximately 50 counties nationwide are current Secure Communities participants. Secure Communities is the cornerstone of DHS's comprehensive plan to distribute technology linking local law enforcement agencies to both FBI and DHS biometric systems. DHS's US VISIT
Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) holds biometrics-based
immigration records, while the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint
Identification System (IAFIS) contains biometric-based criminal records. Secure Communities is a key component of ICE's
enforcement priority to identify, locate and remove criminal aliens
and builds on the growing success of the agency's Criminal Alien Program. In fiscal year 2008, ICE identified more than 221,000 potentially removable aliens incarcerated nationwide. This fiscal year, ICE anticipates spending more than $1 billion on such efforts, which, in addition to
Secure Communities, includes expansion of its Criminal Alien and Fugitive
Operations Programs. More
information about ICE's Secure Communities program is available at www.ice.gov.
Fri, March 13, 2009 | link
Monday, March 2, 2009
New website provides information on adopting foreign children
New Web Site Provides Info on Adopting Children from Other Countries In recognition of National
Adoption Month, the State Department’s Bureau
of Consular Affairs has launched Adoption.state.gov, a new Web site devoted exclusively to intercountry adoption. Last year alone, Americans adopted more than 17,000 children from abroad. Adoption.state.gov
will provide adopting parents with the answers and information they need. The
site includes step-by-step instructions for adopting a child from another country, and a new publication for adoptive parents, “Intercountry Adoption from A to Z.” Adoption.state.gov
provides a central resource for adopting parents, adoption agencies, and others involved in the intercountry adoption process. Prospective parents will find country specific information and background about the
Hague Adoption Convention on the Web site. Adoption.state.gov also includes information
such as who is eligible to adopt, from which countries Americans adopt children, what protections the Hague Adoption Convention provides families, when an organization needs to renew its accreditation, and
advice to prospective parents about selecting an accredited adoption agency. The
site also provides information for foreign citizens who are interested in adopting American children. For more information,
please call (202) 647-1488 or at capressrequests@state.gov
Free website helps Immigrants learn English
The U.S. Department
of Education has launched U.S.A. Learns, a free Web site to help immigrants learn English. The Web site, www.USALearns.org, provides approximately 11 million adults with low levels of English proficiency with easily accessible and free English
language training. "America's limited-English adults will now have readily available materials to improve their
literacy and help them become more productive workers, better parents, engaged community members and active citizens,"
said Troy Justesen, assistant secretary for the Office of Vocational and Adult Education. Launch of the site completes
one of the goals in President Bush's Aug. 10, 2007, announcement of 26 immigration reforms that his Administration would
pursue within existing law -- including the assimilation of new citizens and helping immigrants learn English to expand their
opportunities in America. Recognizing that "[k]nowledge of English is the most important component of assimilation"
and "an investment in tools to help new Americans learn English will be repaid many times over," the Administration
pledged to launch a free, Web-based portal to help immigrants learn English. U.S.A. Learns offers
the following features: An easily accessible Internet learning tool; Simple directions; Free
instructional materials developed to teach basic English skills and help adults improve their English proficiency; and Learning
modules that can be used outside a traditional classroom
Upon entering the site, users can choose directions
in either English or Spanish and then pick which English level they need -- beginner or intermediate. Once in the modules,
the instruction is almost exclusively in English. In the beginner course, 20 units are offered in such areas as numbers, the
calendar, places to go, families, schools, clothes, money and shopping. For intermediate students, more challenging exercises
can help them further their existing English reading and writing skills. The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy
documented that as many as 11 million adults in the U.S. are not literate in English. Currently, local and state providers
have the ability to serve only approximately one million of those learners annually, prompting the need for a Web site of
this kind to offer to adults seeking easily accessible English literacy training.
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